Global Girl Diaries

The Inca

globalgirljen — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 09:24:00 GMT

Touring around Cuzco prior to Macchu Pichu, we made an effort to read up and learn about the Incan civilization, which made the experience all the richer. It was really surprising to find that while the Incan civilization was extremely advanced in some ways (they made stone cities that have lasted 500+ years and survived many earthquakes, while the spanish architecture crumbled), it lacked in others (no alphabet, no wheels, no advanced weapons). And even more mysterious, we really don´t have all that much confirmed fact about them as they didn´t chronicle the history of their people before the Spanish arrived. But seeing the remains of the amazing Incan architecture, and then observing the distruction of the Spaniards was quite sad. To think that one people would enter a civilization and order all their religious sites and amazing architectural accomplishments (quite superior to their own) destroyed, and the stones re-used to build churches to convert those same people.. its just astonishing. But there is another side to the story that made me feel better...in reading further about the Incan empire and it's expansion, and they were definitely conquerors themselves! They started out a community in Cuzco and overtook most of peru, bolivia, parts of ecuador, argentina and chile. Each king had the responsibility of expansion. Their ideal conquering was peaceful, but thy were brutal if they were "forced" to be. And they did demand that the new citizens reject their old gods and old ways, and instead worship the sun like they did. They also ordered new teritories be occupied and made families relocate to the territories. And the kings were all from one blood line, and were immune to all law and could request anything they wanted, while the citizens had very strict punishment (usually death) for disobeying any law. Basically, while they weren´t destructive like the Spanish, they were angels either.

High and Dry in Salta & Jujuy

globalgirljen — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:56:00 GMT

Salta became my favorite surprise stop and a true highlight to our 2 months in this great country! Although it wasn´t on our original itinerary, McLure took a quick interest after some Argentines we met at a bar in BA highly suggested we check out its amazing desert landscape. YOu know how they say often the places you don´t plan are the ones you love the most, Salta is a prime example.

Known as the having the most indigenous influence of all AR´s cities, Salta sits in the far Northern Andean region at 1238M (around 4000ft). It was, in fact, one of the southernmost places the Incans came to dominate. At first glance however, in sitting in its charming central plaza with its statues, cafes, orange trees, churches and classic Spanish architecture, I swore I could have been in Spain. You know that got me right away! But as you wander further through their streets, markets, see the amazing colorful textiles in their shops you see these people have a very different, beautiful history of their own. We didn´t, however fully appreciate that until we got out of the city.

Our highlights of the city were the archeological museum, which housed a 500 year old Incan girl mummy found perfectly preserved atop a nearby volcano (yes, a bit creepy, but so out of this world) and their penas, bars that had live folkloric music - a mix of Spanish guitar, Argentine balads and native Andean music.

After a few days in the city (Salta is also a province), we set out to explore its neighbor Province of Jujuy by car - roadtrip!! Having our own set of wheels and freedom after two months of buses excited me to no end. But the places our trusted silver golf took us were the true highlight. Heading north of Salta, through the amazing Quedabra de Humahuaca (Humahuaca Canyon) I discovered the reason why this region is growing rapidly as a tourist destination. The colors and amazing shapes of the rock you find in these canyons turns your conversation right away to ¨what else¨ is out there that created this all, and scientifically how it all happened - glaciers, plate tectonics? etc. Check out the photos, I need not say much more but think dry desert, amazing sunsets, HUGE cacti, donkeys and their villager owners along lonely roads, llamas in the fields, adobe villages of 500 people...

Oh! plus as the tourist industry expands, they now have a boutique hotel market, which I happily tested out. My favorite hotel in allll of Argentina was La Posada de Luz, where we splurged and stayed in Tilcara. It could have passed for a top notch desert B&B in Sedona with clean white sheets, cozy and relaxing rooms, amazing views and private patios. I was in heaven, and McLure had to tear me away. It couldn´t have come too soon after 2 months of our budget sleeping experiences.

Salta & Jujuy Photos http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniferhlavac/SaltaAndJujuy#

I just cant believe that Argentina has all these such different things in its borders from Gauchos, to wine country, to big city BA, to mountain towns in Bariloche...to now this amazing desert and indigenous people they really just have it all.

Iguazu Falls

globalgirljen — Sun, 3 May 2009 04:22:00 GMT

Our final big sight in Argentina was to be Iguazu Falls. The bus ride there was fairly empty, some say tourism in the area was severly slow due to the Dengue Fever outbreak certain zones in Argentina are suffering. (Dengue Fever is contracted via a certain type of mosquito. Symptoms are an ugly flu that can get dangerous if not treated. Sound familiar? Swine Flu..ahum) So we did our research, however, and found 1) Dengue Fever is not a new issue to Aregentina, but rather something that has been surging every few years here in certain areas and 2) Iguazu wasn´t a highly dangerous area and 3) bug repellant and long sleeves help avoiding it. So we forged ahead, knowing we´d only be there for a few days and would just take precaution. The bus there, all 17 hour of it, was a huge highlight! (for us scrappy travelers at least.) Our ¨cama¨seats were leather, fully reclined and allowed for a very comfy spacious ride. I´d take them any day over a plane ride! The service was amazing - started with a candy greeting by our server, then cocktails and cheese, two course meal with wine and THEN an after dinner champagne! Truly amazing for $60! Compare that with a $300 flight there.

But on to the Falls! The first day we hit the Brazillian side which offered more distant, full views of the falls. The bus ride inside the Brazilian park to the falls reminded me of Disney World, quite touristy. I loved the crazy animals and creatures we encountered along the way to the falls - first a tarantula, wonderful butterflies and racoon like furry guys.

And the falls were beautiful, but unfortunately the water levels were very low as to cut the falls size in half at least. The massive size is what is the most spectacular we hear.. oh well. It was still amazing. It was quite crazy to see the dried rivers, and dry rock that remained where massive waterfalls usually flow. We wondered why the dryness - is it normal for the season or is Iguazu getting ¨warmer¨ too? Got some researching to do there...

On the Argentina side, the highlight was Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat), the most massive convergence of the serious of falls. You got quite a good view, standing right next to the point where they pounded down below in such fury that you couldn´t help but stare in amazement. You could only see half way down its fall due to the mist that it created from its force on the pool below. Like the glaciers, I couldn´t move McLure for a while...

We did head home back to our rockin super hostel, with pool, pool tables, bar, internet center, BBQ dinner, Tango Show and enjoyed the luxury. Next step, 20 hour bus ride to Salta.

Iguazo Photos http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniferhlavac/IguazuFalls#

The Vines of Mendoza

globalgirljen — Fri, 1 May 2009 09:31:00 GMT

After a quick taste of Chile, we hadn´t had enough of Argentina, so we hit the road for a full day bus ride through the Andes to Mendoza. I had high hopes for Mendoza and it filled every expectation and more. Mendoza has all the benefits of a big city: clean and well kept, tree lined well-planned streets, accessbility to goods, and services (mani/pedi!!), nice plazas and statues, nice restaurants and hotels, and to top it off a huge park with sycamore trees, pathways and a decent man made lake (excellent running!!). But it also has a very small and spacious feeling about it, with its excellent urban planning and quaint neighborhoods, it doesn´t feel cramped or polluted like many of the big cities we´ve seen. Then throw in the given amazing qualities of the Argentine people - friendly, outgoing, and they know how to enjoy life - and there you have Mendoza. Plus, the weather is great - mostly sunny and dry year round, its actually in the desert so they have to route all their water from the Rio Mendoza. McLure, being from a Arizona, was particularly fascinated by their irrigation system. I never knew what a passion he had for irrigation! Anyway, they have devised a system where they have open air cement canals of water running on both sides of every street block - kinda cool and relaxing.

Our first night there we went to a great wine bar, Vines of Mendoza - highly reccommended, where we got a great intro the Argentine wine. Our wine bartender taught us tons about the region and its long history as the wine region of Argentina, where many Italian immigrants came in the 1800´s and worked in the wineries as the wine industry flourished, and brought their traditions and culture from Europe. Espcially interesting to me, she said that she felt a stronger heritage to Italy than Spain and that many do in Aregentina. I never realized just how Italian these people are - but its true. They speak in a sing-song much like Italians, Pizza and helado everywhere, very loud, friendly outgoing.. it all adds up. From living in spain, I also defintely note their Spanish influence - a perfect mix if you ask me.

First day in Mendoza we started with a rafting trip in Pedrillos, the base of the mountains that sit to the west of the region. Although the water levels were low, we still had a blast and the views along the river were reason enough for the trip. The beautiful desert rocks and brush that lined both sides of the river were breathtaking. Good thing the water wasn´t rough because I was looking around just much as I was rowing. (Unfortunately no pics.) Diego, our excellent, friendly Mendozan guide, also made the trip. He´ll be guiding rafting trips in 2011 in Colorado, he told me he´s waiting 5 years, yes 5, to get his USA visa request accepted. I had no idea how hard we make it for them!!

Of course, the highlight of Mendoza for me was wine tasting and winery touring. Its fall in Aregentina right now, harvest just finished in April, and so it was a perfect time to see the vines in their fall colors and the wineries in the first steps of the (post grape) wine making process. We spent one day bike riding through the Maipu Valley (the birthplace of wine making in Argentina), stopping, touring, and tasting along the way - approximiately 10 miles out and back along the route. Defintely not as developed as the roads in Napa and Sonoma, so the huge trucks whizzing by us on the narrow road added to the adventure, especially after the third and fourth wineries. My favorites were the small, family owned initimate wineries that held a strong sense of tradition and meaning in the wine making process - Carinae and Familia Di Tomasso was one of those. Quite a contrast to some of the large wineries that are owned by foriegn ¨groups¨ like Trapiche, where the sense of tradition and pride has been moved aside for the financial benefit of large corporate investors.

The second day we joined a guided tour of 4 wineries in the Lujan de Cuyo Valley. While Maipu (45 minute drive away) is the original region where vinticulture started in the late 1800´s, Lujan de Cuyo is its little kid sister that is definitely giving Maipu a run for its money - its now known as the best place to grow Malbec due to its climate, and the views in the valley, which look upon the Andes can´t be matched.

Decero Winery

A favorite of ours was a winery called Renacer that included grape tastings in their vineyards, and also a wine blending session included in the tasting. McLure got to make one, he was very proud.

In hearing all the stories of the wineries, it was surprising to see how great of an impact the 2001 economic crash had on the industry. Most the wineries we visited had an ownership change around that time, people just couldn´t recover from the crash. One of my favorite wineries on the second day was owned by a man, Benegas Lynch, who was a 4th generation winemaker in his family - his great grandfather was actually one of the first wine makers in Maipu and started Trapiche (mentioned above). In 1999, his father had to sell off their entire business (winery, old vines and years of family tradition), but a few years ago Benegas Lynch decided to leave his career in finance and get back to his roots. He bought back some of the original vines his familiy had owned and is now continuing on the great tradition of his family. Really inspirational stories! I had no idea wine making had such passion and history behind the bottle. It was an extraordinary experience to learn it all from the owners, the wine makers and see the whole wine making process in action. Funny I had to travel so far to learn this all, when there are some many amazing wine regions so close to home.

Although sad to leave Mendoza, we´re off to Buenos Aires next to see yet another amazing reason to visit Argentina - Iguazu Falls.

Mendoza Photos http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniferhlavac/Mendoza#

Quick Taste of Chile - Santiago and Valpariso

globalgirljen — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:21:00 GMT

Since mid April, after the Volcano trek in Pucon, we took a bus over the Andes to Santiago to continue our visit in Chile. After a fantastic adventure through Patagonia, Santiago (any big city) was set up to have a hard time impressing us. But McLure and I agreed that we were pleasantly surpised with Santiago. The streets were cleaner than BA or Rio, the drivers actually stopped for you when it was your turn to cross the street and they didn´t abuse their horn, and the minute we whipped our map in the metro to find our hostel, a nice man came up to assist. We stayed just two days in Santiago, but filled them with everything we like: markets, gardens, nice views, just walking around to get to know a city. We stumbled upon armed guards and policemen with horses as the Malaysian president was in town visiting. Nearby, we found a hip modern museum that had an exibition focused on Meztizo art and how it was an influential force in fusing the culture of pre-colombian Chile with religion of the Spanish. There was also a cool ribbon exhibit I enjoyed.

We saw great views of the Andes from a park tower - we heard the smog made visibility poor, so I guess we got lucky. Check it out.

On from Santiago, we took a quick bus north for a day/night to Valparaiso, a port town with fantastic personality. There are two distinct areas in ¨Valpo.¨ The flatlands, where our hostel was, is just what you´d expect from a grimey, industrial port town that isn´t so focused on aesthetics or clean streets. But the hills were truly magical with their windy, steep roads, colorfully painted corregated steel houses and amazing street art. The steep streets and pathways everywhere reminded us of home. We spent the afternoon getting lost up there, and I was in heaven with my camera, as you can imagine - you know how I love color! McLure was very patient, thanks Mclure. :)

Late afternoon, we headed down to the port and then took a public bus ($.40 each) through the hills at sunset. We were very proud of our frugal tour.

Chile photos http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniferhlavac/SantiagoAndValparaiso?feat=directlink